Semantics out of context: nominal absolute denotations for first-order logic and computation

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Author: Gabbay, Murdoch J.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2013
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author Gabbay, Murdoch J.
author_facet Gabbay, Murdoch J.
contents Call a semantics for a language with variables absolute when variables map to fixed entities in the denotation. That is, a semantics is absolute when the denotation of a variable a is a copy of itself in the denotation. We give a trio of lattice-based, sets-based, and algebraic absolute semantics to first-order logic. Possibly open predicates are directly interpreted as lattice elements / sets / algebra elements, subject to suitable interpretations of the connectives and quantifiers. In particular, universal quantification "forall a.phi" is interpreted using a new notion of "fresh-finite" limit and using a novel dual to substitution. The interest of this semantics is partly in the non-trivial and beautiful technical details, which also offer certain advantages over existing semantics---but also the fact that such semantics exist at all suggests a new way of looking at variables and the foundations of logic and computation, which may be well-suited to the demands of modern computer science.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_1305_6291
institution arXiv
publishDate 2013
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Semantics out of context: nominal absolute denotations for first-order logic and computation
Gabbay, Murdoch J.
Logic in Computer Science
Logic
F.4.1; F.3.2
Call a semantics for a language with variables absolute when variables map to fixed entities in the denotation. That is, a semantics is absolute when the denotation of a variable a is a copy of itself in the denotation. We give a trio of lattice-based, sets-based, and algebraic absolute semantics to first-order logic. Possibly open predicates are directly interpreted as lattice elements / sets / algebra elements, subject to suitable interpretations of the connectives and quantifiers. In particular, universal quantification "forall a.phi" is interpreted using a new notion of "fresh-finite" limit and using a novel dual to substitution. The interest of this semantics is partly in the non-trivial and beautiful technical details, which also offer certain advantages over existing semantics---but also the fact that such semantics exist at all suggests a new way of looking at variables and the foundations of logic and computation, which may be well-suited to the demands of modern computer science.
title Semantics out of context: nominal absolute denotations for first-order logic and computation
topic Logic in Computer Science
Logic
F.4.1; F.3.2
url https://arxiv.org/abs/1305.6291